Signs of Sheila
By. Candice Yvette Grimes
Not long ago in a village,
Lived a man so gray and old,
His wife was dead,
His brother too,
His son in the grave lied cold,
The only kin to him he had,
Was the daughter of his youth,
And the daughter’s name was Sheila,
She was only twenty- two,
The men in the village fancied,
Fair young Sheila for she was,
A happy maiden filled with joy,
Her eyes so full of love,
But her father kept her to himself,
Afraid to let her go,
He cried, “All of rest of my kin have died,
Will you be the last to go?”
So with her father there she stayed,
And married she did not,
But her thoughts they cried inside her head,
“Will an old maid be my Lot?
But I love my Father dearly,
So I shall not complain,
How can I leave him for my heart?
When my heart is still there with him?”
Now the old man was so very poor,
His taxes overdue,
Lacked many friends of government,
His enemies weren’t few,
And many noblemen had sought,
To take Sheila for their own,
And to make her the shame of the people,
And to let their lust be shown.
They jumped at the chance,
When they heard that,
He was not paying his fees,
And since he could not pay one cent,
They sank him to his knees,
They took his daughter Sheila,
And left her trail of tears,
There Her father stained his old wife’s grave,
With tears and many fears,
He said “oh my love I lost our child,
Another from our youth,
And darling how I do fear that,
Her purity they’ll take,
I need to know if she’s all right,
I need to have a sign,
If I can have a sign of Sheila,
In my heart she’ll be all right,
His wife took up the strength of the grave,
And then her spirit flew,
And at that same second alone,
How hard the wind it blew,
She found her darling Sheila,
Straggling behind the cart,
And she took a ribbon from her hair ,
To symbolize her heart,
She laid the ribbon at the feet,
Of her husband sad and shrill,
She said “As long as thou Carry this,
Her heart they cannot steal,
And weep no more for I will also set your Sheila free,
When the clock strikes twelve,
I will act my plan,
The Men will not have their glee”,
So there stood Sheila in a lovely room,
A room so full of grace,
She was dressed in a dress of linen,
A dress so full of lace,
Then the men said “Dear girl don’t your fear,
It is not You that I will harm“,
The one man came up behind her and grabbed her by the arm,
Then the clock stroke twelve and her father flew,
Up to where his daughter lay,
And with her ribbons there he took their lustful souls away,
And his daughter was so happy,
So happy and so gay,
That the noblemen of the lustful souls,
Took not her purity away,
There her father felt so sorry,
That he kept her for himself,
He said “Sheila follow your heart,
It won’t lead you astray”
I was so wrong to keep you,
Away from the times of change,
Just as long as I can keep a sign,
I’ll know that you’re ok..
I wrote this english/scottish ballad during my junior year for English.We were studying British
lituarature at the time and I worked really really hard on it and set it to music (which of course i did not sing in class
lol) . However it turned out to be a nice piece. I think that it sounds a lot better read than sung lol. British Lituarature
is very intrigueing to me becuase it has so many puns and words that are so beautifully written down on paper.
